{"id":11175,"date":"2008-07-13T17:19:15","date_gmt":"2008-07-13T21:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=11175"},"modified":"2008-07-13T17:19:15","modified_gmt":"2008-07-13T21:19:15","slug":"the-mutant-chronicles-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/13\/the-mutant-chronicles-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mutant Chronicles (2008)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mutant_chronicles-poster2\"<\/a>Granted, I didn\u2019t fall in love with \u201cThe Mutant Chronicles\u201d as much as I\u2019d hoped, but with post-apocalyptic movies it\u2019s almost impossible for me to be disappointed. Director Simon Hunter\u2019s Science Fiction horror flick doesn\u2019t disappoint even if it\u2019s never anything above average. Hunter gathers all the right elements for the post-apocalyptic epic from corporate corruption, war, and religion, as well as the teaming of a group of survivors who could save the world with their collective skills on the battle field. Bringing strong memories of \u201cSeven Samurai\u201d to mind, Hunter and co. aim for a more comic book or video game approach by treating each character with a mini-bio per their introductions. Thanks to the ever vigilant Brother Samuel who acts as the resident moral center and martyr.<\/p>\n

Samuel is a conflicted chap who takes it upon himself to destroy the machine, and Perlman\u2019s performance is entertaining reliant on his ability to transform at the drop of a hat.\"\" There\u2019s even a surprising walk on from John Malkovich. Based around eighty percent CGI surroundings a la \u201cSky Captain,\u201d Hunter recalls a world that\u2019s depleted of all natural resources and is now controlled by four major corporations that fight an endless war. During one skirmish, the warring nations accidentally unearth \u201cThe Machine\u201d a satanic mechanism that turns humans in to violent mutants. Now with the world under the wrath of the monsters, the church gathers a small group of soldiers to destroy the machine.<\/p>\n

From the deep tomes of religious commentary, political intrigue and big names, \u201cThe Mutant Chronicles\u201d knows all the proper ingredients without ever managing to leave us wanting more. It\u2019s hard to believe, because I was often entrenched in the story up until the story slowed down to deliver terrible dialogue (\u201cGod is life, these things are unlife\u201d), while never being able to pin point what genre it belongs to. Is it a Faustian fantasy or a horror film? Is it a science fiction flick, or a war film? Its lack of focus brings down anything worth salvaging including characterization. I wanted to know who these people were, but they\u2019re often interchangeable or killed much too quickly, and when it all finishes it simply ends without supplying much closure.<\/p>\n

One of the main reasons to watch \u201cThe Mutant Chronicles\u201d is for Hunter\u2019s allusions to the classic war movies of the bygone era that sported the likes of John Wayne and Lee Marvin. Thom Jane gives a stand out performance as the war torn Simon Hunter, a veteran with a knack for leadership drawn in to combat after his best friend falls under the wrath of the mutants. There are many moments when Jane shines on screen with great moments of heroism that often seemed as if he was channeling Lee Marvin. What is the machine? How does it work? Why does it work? If we were told the machine had to be destroyed, why did it simply take off in to the sky? Where was it going? What happened to Hunter? Did he die, was he stranded, or turned? Damned if we\u2019ll ever know, because while the writers do keep a healthy level of ambiguity and suspense, much of the machine\u2019s workings make no sense, and what is explained is rarely ever clarified for the audience.<\/p>\n

Especially considering half of the audience likely never played the RPG of which this is based on.\u00a0 It\u2019s left in the air, and we just move on to the next movie instead of absorbing what we\u2019d just seen. As for the heavy handed narration, Perlman takes the duties of describing almost every single thing on screen even when he\u2019s not around, which also leaves audiences scratching their heads and wondering why we even need him to describe what\u2019s occurring. Once the film begins to roll with the mission to destroy the machine, Hunter\u2019s film becomes a cavalcade of dazzling special effects and some thrilling war scenes that make up for the derivative narrative. The epic atmosphere is never quite accomplished and whether that can be attributed to the endless CGI, or the uneven story, it’s unsure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mutant Chronicles\u201d is a movie that tries for big things and never actually accomplishes what it sets out for in the opening. The mission to get to the bottom of the world is a constantly harrowing one very much in the vein of \u201cThe Descent\u201d and \u201cDawn of the Dead\u201d while the mutants are a constantly creepy and merciless antagonist. \u201cThe Mutant Chronicles\u201d makes for an entertaining bit of apocalypse fodder that reaches for limitless terror and almost gets it right. In spite of the entertainment value, Simon Hunter\u2019s post-apocalyptic science fiction film has all the elements to be a harrowing epic take on the end of the world, but it never quite rises above being simply good, in the end. \u201cThe Mutant Chronicles\u201d definitely isn\u2019t setting any precedence, but it\u2019s serviceable and fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Granted, I didn\u2019t fall in love with \u201cThe Mutant Chronicles\u201d as much as I\u2019d hoped, but with post-apocalyptic movies it\u2019s almost impossible for me to be disappointed. Director Simon Hunter\u2019s Science Fiction horror flick doesn\u2019t disappoint even if it\u2019s never anything above average. Hunter gathers all the right elements for the post-apocalyptic epic from corporate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[58,64,71,104,302,477,617,906,1087,1173],"class_list":["post-11175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-adaptation","tag-adventure","tag-apocalypse","tag-drama","tag-horror","tag-m","tag-science-fiction","tag-thriller","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}